


snow and smoke

by triskadancer



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair, F/F, Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-24
Updated: 2014-09-24
Packaged: 2018-02-18 14:30:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2351744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/triskadancer/pseuds/triskadancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto worries for all his friends, but Junko especially.</p>
            </blockquote>





	snow and smoke

Luck.

He sighed, hunching his shoulders and trying to brace himself against the cold. His hoodie wasn't designed for snow like this, nor were his sneakers the best at wading through slush. But this was the best he could do-- before the main building unlocked, there was no way to get in out of the weather, and the walk back to his dorm would be pointless at this point. So he had to look on the bright side of things, like he always did, like he was so good at doing-- it was a really beautiful morning for a walk. But he really hadn't expected to see anyone else here, and the sight of one particular lanky classmate leaning against a wall and smoking made him pause.

“Enoshima-san?”

She jerked upright, turning to look his way. Always a fashion statement, she was a study in color-- wide blue eyes dark-ringed with eyeliner and exhaustion, red flush on her cheeks and nose, pink-blonde hair falling in artful mess around her face, and all of it a stark contrast to her pale porcelain skin. As usual she favored monochrome, her slender frame huddled into a slick black coat with an impressive white furred ruff around the hood-- very striking against the expanse of shimmering snow.

“Hey, Naegi-kun!” Instantly her face settled into that familiar wide grin, and he returned it with a hesitant smile of his own. “What're you doing here so early? Trying to get the jump on Ishimaru?” Her voice was light and teasing, and he gave a short, awkward chuckle.

“My, uh... My alarm clock went off early. I ran here thinking I was late...” He trailed off, and she laughed mercilessly.

“SHSL Bad Luck strikes again,” she snickered, winking at him, taking another drag.

“Speaking of Ishimaru-kun... if he catches you with that, he's gonna give you an earful.” He nodded to the cigarette she held carelessly between two fingers, and she gave a slow feral grin.

“You're not gonna _tell_ on me, are you, Naegi-kun?” The voice and laugh she used were sickeningly sweet, almost cute-- but they hit his ears wrong somehow, with a sort of bitter aftertaste. He shook his head, half in answer and half to erase the sound.

“What about you?” He asked, genuinely curious.

“I'm just here to get a head-start on my education, of course!” She fluttered those impossible lashes at him, and he couldn't help but join her in chuckling. She flicked ashes away, gaze following the glowing embers as they burned into the snow and suffocated. “I couldn't sleep.”

He nodded absently, the excuse clicking into place without a second thought. It was common enough to wake up too early, or sleep uneasily, especially at this school. It was just the way her eyes dulled when she said it that made him pause.

“Where's your sister?” He asked, just as curious-- seeing Junko without Mukuro was like seeing her without her shadow. There was another half-second pause, where her face was just as pale and frozen as their surroundings-- but quickly, so quickly, she'd slotted another casual smirking grin in place, and he almost wasn't sure if he'd seen it at all.

“Oh, you know Mukuro,” she drawled around the cigarette, smoke leaking from the corners of her mouth as she spoke. “Busy being a disappointment somewhere, I'm sure.”

That last comment finally tipped the scales. He frowned, peering at her with soft hazel eyes. The twins were so fiercely protective of each other, they hardly ever went anywhere alone-- Junko not even knowing her whereabouts was odd. The insult was a whole other matter-- Junko would joke sometimes, but it was always very gentle, and always with Mukuro present.

“Well...” He kicked a snowdrift awkwardly and instantly regretted it, now his pant cuffs were soaked-- “Listen, do you wanna go get coffee? My treat?”

She blinked, raising one perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Naegi-kun,” she said, “is this a confession?” Her voice was overly theatrical, and he smiled faintly.

“It'd be pretty bad if it was, I can't afford the good stuff.”

She blinked again, and laughed-- and it was finally a real one, bubbling up from her lungs and still just a little too sharp, but that was to be expected. “Then I'll pay.” She pushed herself off the wall, dropped the cigarette and ground it under one heel. “C'mon, Naegs.”

He followed tamely, glad just to be there for her.

She was pretty convincing-- he hadn't suspected a thing when they'd first met, he'd been too dazzled by her. But when you spent enough time with someone, the polish wore off-- it wasn't so incredible any more, she wasn't world-famous painfully beautiful Enoshima-san The SHSL Model in his mind any more-- she was Junko, his vibrantly loud classmate, who was shockingly good at mathematics and sniffing out peoples' insecurities and had a twin sister who couldn't be more different from her but whom she desperately loved. And the more you got to know someone, the easier it was to notice the little things. Like how there was almost always a tiny delay before she could call up a truly carefree smile, and if she wasn't careful it came out all fangs. This morning was just another little mistake.

She tried really hard to hide it, but he knew something was wrong, and Makoto couldn't help but worry for his friends.

The cafe wasn't too far from the school. The route was still covered in slush but the walk went by quickly, even though they didn't talk very much. Junko was usually such a chatterbox-- bouncing from topic to topic, getting bored mid-sentence. But not this morning. She still kept up with him easily, shot back clever quips to his gentle teasing, smiled at all the right places, everything he'd expect. Just a little slower, a little quieter.

They stumbled in and kicked snow off their shoes, alone in the cafe except for the clerk. Sane people were all still asleep after all. Of course, this cafe was close enough to the school to afford some upscale options.

“Oh, wow.” He peered up at the array of high-quality grounds on the top shelf. “Kopi luwak.”

“What, the cat-shit coffee? Is _that_ what you want?” She cackled, and he shrugged narrow shoulders and gave an uncertain smile.

“Togami-kun and Kirigiri-san like it.”

She rolled her eyes. “God, of _course,_ they're so fucking pretentious. It's not even good. It's just expensive. You wanna bring some back for 'em?” She said it so casually that it took him a second to register. He whipped around to stare at her, and she gave another narrow grin. “What?”

“It's like four hundred dollars a pound!”

“And?” She waited a beat, and laughed at his stricken expression. “Naegi-kun, I know I'm super cool and down-to-earth and everything, but I'm also a fabulously rich model. Get it.” She gestured towards the shelf, fishing around in her purse with the other hand. Easier said than done, unfortunately-- he approached the shelf uncertainly, stood on tiptoes and reached, but it was no good.

“God, Naegs, how short even are you?” She approached from behind and rested an arm on his head jokingly, and he flushed and laughed and wriggled away. “Heyyy, you _are_ lucky, I'm here to grab shit for you.”

She reached up, and her coat sleeve slid back to reveal clean white bandages wrapped around a much too narrow wrist-- and she snatched the bag off the shelf and shrugged her shoulder forward in one fluid motion and they were hidden again so fast he almost couldn't believe it. Wide blue eyes met his worried hazel and there was half a beat of hesitation-- she knew he saw, he knew she knew-- and she quickly pasted on a hollow grin.

“So what do you want?” The question was just a little too rushed, a little too sharp. He looked away, having the menu as an excuse.

“Oh-- uh-- I guess a regular coffee's fine,” he stammered, and she swept up to the counter and rattled off their order-- his boring normal order and something ridiculously sweet and complicated and low-calorie for her, of course-- and then they waited. He stood patiently, while she tapped her feet and sighed and paced and eventually even snapped at the clerk, which made him wince. She was always a little sharp-edged but the claws and fangs only came out under stress. As soon as they were ready she snatched up their drinks and passed his to him and swept out the door.

They walked, quietly crunching through the drifts. The snow muffled all sounds, and it was still so early that the roads were abandoned and most sensible people were still asleep-- it was like they were the only people in the world, right then. He normally would have found that kind of comforting and serene-- except this time he was very aware now that she probably felt like that a lot, even when it wasn't winter, and he didn't know what to do.

“Hey, Enoshima-san...?” He started, hesitant and soft, and she immediately started chattering, light and quick and casual as always.

“Y’know, don’t you think your talent’s kinda funny?” He looked sidelong at her, frowning a little, as she went on-- “I mean we joke and all, SHSL Luck, and I guess you get to come to this school and everything-- whatever, as if it really matters, right?-- but let’s be honest, your luck is _awful;_ like on top of your normal stupid problems you have to deal with _us_ now, isn't that funny? In a normal school you’d be normal, right, nobody would care at all, but here you’ve got fuckin’ Togami thinking you’re literally worthless and Ishimaru breathing down your neck about attendance and you have to compete in gym against Kuwata, what an _asshole,_ right?” She took in a shallow breath, smiling wide and hollow, words rushing almost panicked, while Makoto followed with a deep frown. He always hated when she talked down their classmates, but this wasn't the same--

“And the girls, man, how much does _that_ suck? Fukawa hates everything, Kirigiri's a fucking robot, Celes is a cosplaying lunatic-- and then there’s _us,_ the crazy twins, right? You have to put up with _me,_ of all fucking people-- and they call you _lucky,_ isn't that funny?”

She had to stop, gulping in a breath. “Isn't that funny?” She said again, and she was still smiling, but the hitch in her breathing and the tremor in her voice and the pain in her eyes was enough to send his stomach into flips, and he couldn't help it-- he stopped short, turned, and hugged her. It was clumsy, and awkward, but there was nothing else he could do-- and she jerked upward, like a startled cat, freezing completely with her arms held tight at her sides. There was a long moment, stretching silent and uncomfortable, and he was sure she’d punch him, or laugh at him, or throw him into the snowbanks-- but then she crumpled against him, shaking, hiding her face against his shoulder.

“I might be unlucky,” he started, quietly, uncertainly. “But having you guys as my friends isn't.” Very hesitantly, he patted her narrow shoulders, letting her sniffle into his hoodie. “You’re all important to me, okay? So… don’t… don’t go anywhere, alright?” Clumsy, clumsy, he was so clumsy. But she managed a muffled little giggle, even through tears, pulling back to look almost shyly at him.

“Sorry, you’re stuck with me, Naegs.” She swiped at her eyes with the back of one hand, quick and embarrassed, straightening up and squirming away from him. “Too bad for me you’re such a loser.” And he laughed, too, feeling warmer and lighter even in the chilly air because at least her voice was right this time, her normal gentle teasing tone. She turned away, and he started walking alongside her again, and there was a brief pause before he just barely caught a murmured “Thank you.”

He shrugged, and grinned. “You're welcome. It's what I'm here for.”


End file.
